The Last Keeper

by Michelle Birbeck

  “You have years left. Just because you have started going grey, which suits you, doesn’t mean you’re doomed to death anytime soon.”

  I tried to laugh, but my laugh came out as a half-hysterical squeak. There was something more he wasn’t telling me, and I had a feeling I didn’t want to hear the answer.

  “More like months, my dear.”

  “William, what do you mean months?”

  “The doctors do not think Alison will survive childbirth again. She is struggling so much already.” There was such a deep sadness in his voice. “Will you take care of them?”

  He didn’t need to tell me who they were. I knew. It was part of the arrangement we’d made. If anything happened to him, I would take his children, would teach and raise them. I would make certain they knew of their father and the wonderful things he’d accomplished. They would be told of the kind heart their mother had and the beautiful woman she was.

  “You know I will. You never needed to ask. But the doctors don’t know everything. How many advances have been made in the past decade alone?” I said, desperate for him to see sense. “Alison is a fighter; she’ll survive.”

  “She may not, and I need to be prepared.”

  “When did you find out?”

  “Three days ago. She’s been having problems, and they don’t know what’s wrong. She is tired all the time, struggling to keep food down, and every morning she wakes up in pain, yet she is only a few months along. I’m losing her and there’s nothing I can do,” he whispered, looking lost. “Vampires I can fight against. Weres I can fight against. Witches I could ask for help, if there were any. But my own child?”

  “She’ll survive,” I said. “She will.”

  “You cannot know that.” He sighed, rubbing his jaw again. “No one can know that.”

  “That may be, but we can all hope.”

  He was so hopeless as we stared at each other in the morning-dark sitting room.

  “Thank you,” he whispered after a few minutes.

  “There’s never a need to thank me,” I told him. “You’re my brother. I’d do anything for you. Anything at all. But you need to move.”

  He sat there in his chair, looking at me for a long moment. His breaths were measured and even; his gaze never left mine. “It will do Alison more harm than good to move her now. She needs to be settled,” he answered. “If they come, then I’ll deal with them.”

  “And if they come in the night? Whilst you are sleeping?”

  “Then I will not sleep. When was the last time you slept?”

  “Not the point, William.” Exasperated, I stood, shaking my head. “Will you stop being so stubborn and listen to me?”

  He sighed, settling back into his chair. Those dark eyes of his closed for a moment, but when they opened the answer I wanted was there.

  “We’ll move up into the mountains. I’ll need a couple of days to arrange everything and pack what we need. We’ll be safe at my cabin for while.”

  Relief flooded through me. “Thank you.”

  He smiled sadly, but it soon brightened. “You didn’t answer my question. When was the last time you got any sleep?”

  He was trying to move our conversation to lighter subjects, and though I didn’t want to, I indulged him.

  William was the only one who knew all of my embarrassing secrets. He’d been with me for quite a few of them.

  Before he’d met Alison, we’d travelled together. On many occasions we’d posed as husband and wife in order to circumvent the customs of the time. When he found Alison, that ruse had proved interesting. My supposed husband proclaiming his love for another woman! Her parents had not been impressed. Fortunately, neither of them cared what they thought and decided to run away together.

  “You need to go,” he said about an hour later.

  “I do. I need to get back to Laura’s. Tara is there, and I’d like to get home as soon as possible.” I paused for a moment. Going back to Laura’s was risky, but the vampires had shown little interest in targeting our descendants. “We still have much to discuss.”

  I didn’t want to leave him when there was so much to do, so many plans to make, and apparently not much time in which to make them, but I needed to get home.

  “I bet Ray is something else,” he said, smiling as he walked me to the door.

  “He’s everything I imagined and more.”

  “Get out of here, then. Go take care of him. I can look after myself,” he told me, holding the door open.

  “Tell Alison I’m sorry I couldn’t stay.”

  “I will. Take care of yourself.”

  “You, too, old man.”

  “Says she who was born almost fifteen hundred years before me!” He laughed, shaking his head.

  “Well, you are starting to go grey around the edges there.”

  “Do you need a horse?” he asked, reluctant to let me go.

  “No. It’ll be quicker if I run, and the way is clear for a while.” I laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Stop worrying. I’ll take to the rooftops if I need to.”

  “And fall into another poor soul’s bedroom?”

  “This is true.”

  “Stop stalling and get back to your man.” He paused. “I wish I could have met him.”

  “You will.”

  “We shall see.”

  I gave him one last sad smile before I left. As eager as I was to return to Ray, I was just as reluctant to leave William. It had been so long since I’d seen him, years in fact.

  Looking back when I reached his gate, I spotted Alison standing at their bedroom window. She raised her hand and I returned the gesture. There was a strained smile on her face as I turned away, and the feeling I was missing something returned.

  It had happened often over the years since William’s wedding. There were times when he would be distant, thinking. I’d asked, on many occasions, but he insisted it was nothing.

  Yet, the more distance I put between us, the more I knew I was missing something. It wasn’t like William to think all was lost before it actually was. He was the optimist, always had been. Where I believed we were doomed regarding our race, he’d always said something would happen. He insisted the race would not end with either of us.

  How wrong he was.

  There was no hope I could see. Nothing that could be done to change what had happened. William and I were the last. The only thing that could change that fact was a miracle. And I’d been alive for far too long to believe in them anymore.

  I took the same precautions on the way back as I did on my way to William’s. Laura and her family couldn’t protect themselves as William could. It was almost lunchtime when I arrived at her home, secure in the knowledge that no one had followed me and no one had seen me.

  “Serenity!” Laura cried when she saw me. “I was worried about you. Are you hurt?”

  “Sorry, and no, I’m fine,” I reassured her. “Things were . . . complicated.”

  “Complicated?”

  “Just a little. Nothing to worry about.” There was no way I was going to tell her I had run into the entire London Seat mere miles from her home. Best not to say anything, in case Laura inadvertently gave away what she was.

  Elena might not have known much about Ray, or that I was in the city, but it was only a matter of time before they found out. If Poppy Baruti had recognised me, then everything hinged on whether she chose to tell The Seats I was there.

  If she had . . .

  Poppy had already left The Seats when I was starting to gain a reputation with them. It was possible she didn’t know me, or who I was. Possible, but it was a chance I couldn’t take. The first thing I would do when I got home was look for another house. Or perhaps try to persuade Ray to move to one I already had—even if I had to take Ray’s mother with us and tell her everything.

  Either way, I wanted Ray out of London.

  “I’m sorry I cannot stay.” There were more important things on my mind. “You understand.”

 
; “Of course.”

  “Was Tara any trouble?” I asked as I saddled her.

  “No trouble at all. She’s well rested, not that she needed much.” Laura was distant as she spoke.

  “Something is wrong,” I stated, turning to face her.

  She looked shocked for a moment and . . . scared. She was quick to rearrange her features into a calm mask, but not quick enough. Her heart was racing, and I could see fear in her eyes.

  “Laura?” I prompted. “What’s wrong?”

  “I am . . . concerned. About you.”

  Lie. Everything I’d ever learned about human beings, and our kind, said she was lying.

  “There’s nothing to be concerned about,” I told her. “Last night was simply a complication, one that won’t happen again.”

  My words came out harsher than I meant. I didn’t like being lied to, by anyone. But especially not by my family. I knew Laura as well as I knew myself. If there was something going on she didn’t want to tell me, then there was only one way to find out.

  To break that same promise William and I had been discussing.

  I hoped I’d never have to.

  I was tempted.

  But my issues were far greater than whatever secret Laura was hiding.

  “I’m not worried about that. It’s this man you’ve found, Ray . . . What was his name?” she asked, more curious than anything else.

  “Willis. Ray Willis.” I hadn’t given Ray’s last name out to anyone, and I wasn’t about to start.

  “So you will be Mrs. Willis soon?”

  “If you’re wondering about a wedding invitation, Laura, then you should know it will only be his family in attendance. You know why I cannot invite anyone else.” Tara was ready and I wanted to leave.

  “Well, I was hoping.” I turned to see a small smile on her lips.

  “Laura,” I sighed, “you know you’re family to me, flesh and blood family, but you also know that I cannot risk his life. The fewer people who know, the safer he’ll be—the safer we all will be.”

  “I know. As I said, I was hoping.” She was still lying, but I needed to get home. I needed to see Ray again. That need overrode everything else.

  “Take care of yourself.”

  Without giving her a chance to answer, I mounted Tara and set off at a dead run. The sooner I got away from Lyon, the sooner I’d be home.

  Elena and Kiros should’ve gone directly to London, unless they were camping out somewhere during the day. I’d known them to go for weeks without draining that last bit of life from a human, just so they could attempt to follow me during the daylight hours. Even then, they had to take precautions and avoid intense sunlight or they risked being turned to ash.

  Normally they didn’t go to the effort of being able to venture out into the sun. Unless a vampire didn’t show up for their audience, or they had special cause, they simply stayed hidden during the day and drained the life of any human they wanted.

  Even if they hadn’t gone to the trouble of fasting in order to lure me out, I still needed to take care.

  It wasn’t worth risking Ray’s life. I would’ve loved for my encounter with Elena to come to blows, but William was right. I couldn’t turn up on my doorstep half dead. It would be all too easy for a vampire to follow me and find Ray.

  I needed to protect those closest to me. Now more than ever.

  All to prevent the ramblings of a dying woman from coming true.

  When there were many of us, we were blessed with such a wide variety of gifts. Everything from my mother’s gift of physical protection, to my aunt’s gift of second sight.

  It was when my aunt was dying, just over a thousand years after I was born, that she gave us three predictions. The first was a simple enough affair, if somewhat far-fetched: good among the vampire race. Someone born of blood that could change the darkest of souls.

  Issac Baruti.

  Barely six centuries old, he’d supposedly done just that.

  If the rumours were true.

  The second of her final predictions had been the most haunting, the one that was on the verge of coming true. She saw us extinct, a single remaining Keeper fighting the inevitable. She saw us losing.

  But it was the final prediction that had shocked us all, and made everyone think that there was no truth in her words. All the races were supposedly connected. A single family, so diverse that each of the races held a piece of the heart of the whole.

  Impossible.

  The five races could never be connected as such. Vampires hated everyone, as did the Weres. Witches hated humans, and humans didn’t know of any of us. And we were on the fringes, as always.

  It was impossible.

  It was after lunch, far too long after I’d left, that I arrived back at my home. Despite being overjoyed at the mere sight of the house, I took the precaution of checking the surrounding area. Just in case.

  As soon as I was satisfied that it was safe, I rode as fast as possible until I reached the stables at the back of the house.

  Sam was already there tending to Falcon. I barely stopped long enough to ask about Ray.

  “Reading in your room,” he answered, laughing at my eagerness.

  With a thank you so quickly spoken he couldn’t have heard it, I raced up to the house.

  “You look a mess!” he called after me.

  “I know!”

  I shouted out a quick hello to Helen, who was in the kitchen, as I hurried past her. There was a hearty laugh from her, too. Neither of them had seen me so eager to be home before.

  Taking the stairs two at a time, I was at the top barely a minute after dismounting Tara. Coming to a stop outside my door, I paused for a moment, not wanting to give Ray another fright by barging in.

  When I opened the door, forcing myself to keep calm, I realised it didn’t matter. He was lying on my bed, sleeping peacefully, an open book splayed across his chest.

  Sitting next to him as gently as I could manage, I smiled. He looked so peaceful when he slept. I ran my fingers over his cheek and through his hair, smiling more as his eyes fluttered open.

  “Hello.”

  “Serenity?” he asked, half asleep.

  “I missed you.”

  “I missed you, too.” His words came out mumbled as I pressed an almost urgent kiss against his lips.

  We spent a few minutes lying together, enjoying each other’s company. It felt so unbelievably good to have him next to me again. The warmth of his body pressed against mine was everything I needed to help me forget my trip to Lyon.

  Only certain things couldn’t be forgotten.

  Something had plagued me as I rode in circles, crossing my own path too many times to count. Laura had blatantly lied to me, and if my suspicions about her motives were correct, then I couldn’t bear to face that possibility. Yet regardless of her lies, with Ray was where I needed to be.

  I sighed. “We need to go downstairs.”

  “We could just stay here,” he countered, pulling something from my hair. “Do you always come home looking like this?”

  “No, which is why we need to talk to Helen.” I sat up.

  “Should I be worried?”

  “No.” I stopped, thinking about it for a moment. “At least, I don’t think so.”

  Ray didn’t need to fret over what had happened; The Seats would never touch him.

  Sam and Helen were already in the sitting room when Ray and I came down. Though they were smiling and chuckling softly at how delighted I’d been to be home, they were clearly worried. I was a little windswept. My hair was full of bits of twigs and leaves, making it look like something a bird might want to nest in for the summer. My clothes had seen fewer holes and frays, too, and I could’ve certainly used a bath.

  “Tara will need resting for at least a week,” I informed Sam. “She has had a long few days.”

  “She’s eating. Once I’ve groomed her, she’ll be able to rest for a while.”

  “Thank you.”

 
“What went wrong?” Helen asked.

  “Things turned out to be more complicated than I thought.”

  “Who was it?”

  “The London Seat.”

  “Elena and Kiros?” Sam asked.

  “Both of them, and another half-dozen vampires.”

  “Do we need to move?”

  When I turned to look at Helen, her eyes were wide and she was fidgeting nervously. “There’s no way they followed me here. I spent days riding around in circles through France. Had they, I would’ve known,” I reassured her. “But I will search for another house before the end of the year.”

  “Are you sure you weren’t followed?” Helen asked, glancing at Ray.

  “I’m sure. Also, the area around here is clear, just as it was at William’s.” I was about to continue, when Helen interrupted me.

  “William? I thought you were doing this on your own?”

  “It was a setup, Helen. They were waiting for me. Somehow they knew I would be the only one arriving. And they know about Alison. I had to warn him.” I heaved a deep sigh, plopping down in a seat next to Ray.

  “Were you hurt?” he asked, gently.

  “As power hungry as The Seats are, they don’t have a death wish.” I placed a reassuring hand on his arm. “They know better than to cross me. My temper is a lot shorter than it used to be.”

  “You ran to see William?” Helen pressed, wanting answers.

  “Yes. Woke him up at the crack of dawn, after spending the night doubling back on myself.” I chuckled at the memory of him half asleep. “Told him he should move. Took some persuading. Not that I blame him, considering . . .”

  My pause hung in the air, thick with unspoken revelations.

  “What are you not telling us, Serenity?”

  “Everything? Are you sure you want to know how bad things are right now?”

  It was rare that I was short-tempered with anyone, and especially my family, but the trip to France had taken a toll. Even being in Ray’s arms again helped only a little.

  “He deserves to know.”

  “I stayed at Laura’s house until nightfall. When I got to the village outside of Lyon, there were half a dozen vampires waiting for me, along with Kiros and Elena. They were talking about me, Helen. They knew I was the one coming to deal with them.”